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Present Time
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My body is becoming numb, water leaks into my helmet as we spin in the churn. I cannot let go of her, I will not, even though she may be the enemy, even though she may lie or withhold… My heart holds her in my grasp. I don’t know if my metal hand still clasps the foam block, I can’t see it, I can only hope that it does, as without it…
Sacrifice your pride for her… Call me from the abyss
The demon whispers in my ear now. I can feel their claws sinking into my soul. I think of the words of the woman whose lover and child were taken by the actions of nobles. Why do I protect her, why do I clutch her tightly to my side. Why do I defy the teachings of my people and let this master into the most sacred space of my heart… why am I so weak that I cannot grasp my own fate.
My heart sinks as my metal arm hits my side, the foam block must have disintegrated in the water. There is no other choice now. No other escape. I must change. I must adapt as I have always done… it is the way of the Ulima – The forsaken.
I have not helped my people. They suffer in chains as I languish at the thought of losing my pride… I must be more than my pride… I must become more for the sake of others. I must rise. For the sake of those whom I love more than life itself. For the sake of those in my tribe, those who share the fate of a life with a boot to their neck. For those who bow and scrape to survive I will become more. My evolving ethos beginning to make its first carving into my soul.
I yell and scream in frustration at the gods, at the universe, my mask is filling with water to my eyes now. The eyes my mother gave me, the eyes of my people. My Kuwathi eyes begin to swirl with bioluminescence, light pouring from them, shining back at me in the mask’s reflection. Seeing them fills me with the strength I need to release my pride and become something more. I will become the blade of my people’s will.
Yes… Call me forth
When I learned that I would die because of this Black Edict and its demon, it was not fear that struck my heart in that moment… it was a release… a sort of freedom. It wells in me now, as pride relinquishes is hold, giving its power to something greater, giving its power to the spirit of will that rises in me. A will that can sacrifice its pride for the needs of the many, a will that can hone itself into a blade to cut down those that would hold down the weak. A will forged for the rising of those who cannot stand by themselves.
Yes… Feel the power
My metal hand opens as I call for the darkness’s help to reach towards the light. The water begins to swell around me. A deep red light erupting from Lunara’s waist pouch as the Black Edict burns through it and her suit, moving into my grasp. The runic lines the being swathed in light wrote upon my flesh now hover above the metal arm for a moment, then fall onto it, etching into the metal. My mind would fill with questions, but I am singularly focused. I will save her; I will rescue my tribe… I will shatter the chains.
The Black Edict changes into a deep black hand, darker than the abyss of space, red lines upon it glow with words from the old tongue… Jukora Katac – Hail Thy Gods. The hand grasps mine pulling me upwards. I feel power radiating from the hand, through the metal arm into what’s left of my shoulder, there is pain, but I do not let go.
We push through the water rapidly rising. Lunara still in my grasp, what remains of my metal hand in the demon’s. Heat swells from the demon’s hand as we approach the ceiling of ice which traps us. A hole from the craft already filled with snow. The fresh snow melts away leaving a wall of thin ice as we push even higher. Steam cascades around us on our ascent. My metal arm is dripping molten metal, the demon’s grip now moving to my forearm which will not hold long. The runes are flickering now, losing their power as the carving melts.
My eyes look upwards as the snow becomes illuminated by the light from the surface. There is hope rising against the despair the demon’s hand fills me with as we burst forth into the light of day. The metal arm half molten falls away, the demon’s hand slowly shifting back into the black box as we begin to fall towards the snow.
We land in its embrace, much softer than I expected. To my right is the Black Edict. My body steams against the cold, the warmth it gave slowly leaving as the winds blow snow onto me.
Soon… You will be mine
I am confused, why does it not take me, I thought this would be my grave. Perhaps it wishes to torture me first. Using my pain as amusement. Perhaps my soul is barely worthy of the effort to claim it. Or perhaps my pride was enough to sate its appetite. It does not matter as my lips dare to smile, my new resolve beckoning me to use the demon back. This resolve that builds in me, it is a mere flicker… but I feel it growing steadily, shaping itself to carve the masters and cleave the chains of my people.
“We are not done yet… you and I… Demon.” I say.
I feel the demon’s hand slide across my throat gently, the feeling so real it causes me to gulp as it laughs into my ear. My eyes search for it, but there is nothing in my vision, and the Black Edict is on the ground still. The madness the woman spoke of has begun… There is not much time, I can feel it growing roots slowly inside me, infecting me with malice, looking for the madness I possess in the recesses of my soul.
Turning now to look on Lunara, I see she does not wake still. My flesh hand moves the hair from her face, as the feeling of darkness spreads in my chest, looking upon her keeps it from my heart. Her face is warm, steam rises from her, like her body does not fear the cold as mine does. So much about her is different than other people I have seen.
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There is so much about her I would have liked to know, so much I wish I could share with her, if only the fates were kinder and hadn’t sentenced me to death. If only I could grasp destiny. My mask is fogging so I tear it off, the frigid air nipping my cheeks. My face pulling towards hers, drawn in by her. I find myself wondering what could have been if we were not born under different stars. Wondering what could have been if there were no masters and slaves, wondering what could have been if we stood as equals.
We are close now, something warm comes from my eyes, and my ears. I reach my hand to it and see the deep contrast of blood against the snow. The world begins to fall away as my body is wracked with pain for calling on a power it is not strong enough to wield. The price for saving her coming due. I see Lunara’s face stirs, hope fills my heart, I drift back, beckoned to the realm of dreams where the demon waits to exact its punishment no doubt.
***
Realm of Dreams
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My soul is adrift in the realm of dreams, the waters tumultuous as they rise and crash over me. Pushing me towards the island which holds the tree that once grew, now withered and covered in black rot that poisons the tree. The leaves long fallen. I grasp the land, pulling myself up onto its banks. Rolling on my back and looking up to the stars within the dream world. The crashing of waves becoming a lullaby to me. The dead that haunt me are in the same water, their eyes upon me. They do not try to pull me to the abyss as they normally do though, they know I will be with them soon enough. I can see hope in their eyes that my death might be worthy enough to erase their pain.
Thunder clouds begin to form and obstruct the sky above, red lightning arcing now. I know the demon follows soon, but the fear I once had has left me. There is only peace and the will to become the blade of my people’s cries.
“Come demon…” I say, the resolve filling me, taking its first steps.
Lightning strikes the ground next to me.
“I do not fear you.” I proclaim.
Lightning strikes again. From the charred earth, a black oozing mass begins to rise slowly. Its laughter booms like thunder and shakes my soul, vibrating the realm of dreams. Its voice pierces the marrow of my existence.
You do not know the meaning of fear… Not yet
The black oozing liquid begins to roll and contort as it rises into the shape of a person. The form too distorted to make out anything except the glowing slits of red where their eyes should be. I feel a shiver run down my spine as I imagine what those eyes look like opened. Deep red lips that glow like the slits of their eyes begin to form in the mass around the mouth.
The demon moves forward now, gliding towards me. I try to move, but I am held in place, still lying on the ground on my back. My heart begins to thump as my resolve feels the weight of the being swathed in darkness. The hand moves towards my face now, as the creature slinks down towards me like a phantom, turning its head ever so slightly.
You are worthless to me as you are now
I try to move but I can’t. As the hand touches me, pain incarnate flows into me, my body trembling under its wrath. I feel the cracks in my sanity becoming loose and suddenly the pain stops. Leaving me panting in a heap. I can move again, my arms claw at the ground to escape the demon who trails behind me slowly, cackling at my expense.
Where is your bravado… Where is your defiance
Show me your resolve
You seek the power of the abyss; you must forge the strength to hold it
It howls with laughter, grasping me firmly by the back of the head picking me up and turning me so I can meet its horror filled face. Its dreadful lips curl into a smile.
Pain shall be your teacher… And I your master
Pain courses through me again until I feel my mind about to splinter and it stops. It comes again and again, always stopping right before I shatter. My mind tries to move far away from the pain to block it, but it is unavoidable. The demon strikes at my soul, not my body. Images of destruction flood my mind, battles long past becoming relived once more. I see the previous users of this accursed Edict, all of their demises playing vividly in my mind. Tears of blood run down my face as I feel each of their deaths, the unfulfilled dreams, the anguish of being trapped and tormented by the darkness inside the black box.
All of them were unworthy to hold even a fraction of my power
Images cascade across my mind now, not of the past but of the potential futures, snaking pathways that branch off leading to pain. I see Arrum bleeding out upon the sands reaching towards the skies calling to the deaf ears of the Gods. I see Nekam holding the corpses of Neeba and Nevari, shouting to the abyss. Yuri and Korra both lying dead with a blade in each hand. Maki and Daki the demon brothers fight some kind of beast, my eyes grow wide at the grotesqueness of it. Hundreds of dead line the field, I can see their spirits rise from their bodies through the vision, they are angry, wrathful. A low hum begins to echo from their mouths, forming words. The Colosseum of the masters roars with approval making it hard to hear the words, my heart burns with rage, pushing past the pain. Resolve beginning to rise once more, each burst of pain mixing with the images, tempering the blade within me.
The future is not set in stone… It is fickle like mortals and false gods…
The pain increases as my breaking point becomes further away each time. The demon’s smile grows wider now, reaching the edges of the darkness. It increases the pain, showing me different routes that the future may take. Showing me the passages of the master’s labyrinth under the Colosseum, bringing me back to the fifteenth floor where I saw bloody drag marks towards a large door. The fifteenth floor, the place that they process the dead. There is something hidden here. Something the demon wishes for me to see. Something that will cause me great pain.
Yes… I will reshape you
The pain intensifies, the tree in the realm of dreams ignites with a black fire. New branches begin to form, thick and gnarled, twisting towards the sky. I feel parts of myself slipping, I feel a call to the abyss. The pain pushes over the threshold, my mind beginning to crack now. My heart rages in my chest as fear pumps through my veins.
The realm of dreams begins to shake as the words of the being swathed in light flow into my mind. The words trying to patch the cracks as they form. It screams now in the old tongue Juk ta Ikor – Call forth your Blessing. I feel warmth coming from my chest as I feel the words give rise to meaning inside me. The darkness pushes back fervently against the light.
I see a light forming in the darkness of the realm of dreams above us, hope fills me. The being swathed in darkness looks up towards the light, its smile changing into a scowl as it points a finger up at the fully forming being swathed in light.
You dare… False God
The being of light crashes into the being of darkness. The dream world rocks violently. The being swathed in light rushes towards me. Placing a hand on my chest and pushing me backwards. The hands of the being swathed in darkness grasp the being of light throwing them. I feel myself being expelled from the dream world, the realm of the waking calling me. I do not want to leave, I want to learn more about them. Why does the demon call it a false God. What are they fighting over, is it me? But why? Sekat, I try to cling to the realm, but the vibrations of them fighting push me away. Everything fades to darkness.
***
Realm of Reality
***
My eyes slowly open, pain wracks the flesh of my body. I feel Lunara clutching me tightly, there is warmth from her body, unnatural warmth that pushes back the chill of cold in my bones. Around me I see we are in a cave carved from ice. The sun’s rays ripple through cracks in the snow that piles above, creating shimmers in the cave. I feel something crawling under my skin.
“I thought I lost you.” Lunara says, realizing I am awake now.
“You owe me answers.” I manage to say. The questions finally compounded inside me, demanding resolution.
She clutches me tighter “I know.”